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Friday, September 18, 2015

Nontraditional
farm activities involve innovative uses of farm resources, such as
growing/selling value-added products (such as fruit jams, preserves, cider,
wine, floral arrangements, and beef jerky), selling directly to consumers,
providing agritourism/recreational services, and using renewable energy
producing systems (such as solar panels, wind turbines, and biodiesel). The
number of farms engaged in these activities increased from 2007 to 2012, with
the largest growth in farms with renewable energy producing systems. In 2012,
about 57,000 U.S. farms produced renewable energy, more than double the
number in 2007. By 2012, 63 percent of renewable energy producing farms had
installed solar panels, which drives this increase. The number of farms that
had income from agritourism/recreation increased over the 5-year period by 42
percent, with the largest increase in smaller agritourism farms with annual
receipts under $5,000. In 2012, the top States in the share of farms
producing and selling value-added products were Vermont (14 percent), New
Hampshire (13 percent), and Maine and Rhode Island (with 11 percent each).
This chart updates one from the ERS report, Farm
Activities Associated With Rural Development Initiatives, ERR-134, May 2012.

I wanted to remind folks about prohibitions against the
feeding wildlife, specifically deer and elk, that recently have come into
effect as of September 1 --- from September 1 through January 3 of each year,
it is prohibited by established regulations of the Virginia Department of Game
and Inland Fisheries to provide any food resources not considered to be
naturally occurring to deer or elk; this includes salt and mineral blocks as
well (see below). Similarly, there is a year-round prohibition in effect
for the feeding of bears. These regulations do not mean that food plots,
installed following sound agricultural best management practices (BMPs) and
maintained in their natural state, need to be removed; as long as nothing is
done to supplement (i.e., sprinkle with cracked corn, etc., which constitutes
“baiting”) or change the natural growth form or accessibility of the resources
in that plot (such as bush hogging seed-bearing crops on to the ground prior to
a hunt), continued maintenance of food plots is allowed --- but, the plot must
remain in a natural condition. However, hunters should make note … if
supplemental feeding had been occurring in an area prior to the closure date,
all such artificially provided food materials must be removed by September 1 and
no hunting can take place in the affected area for 10 days after feeding had
ceased or after such removal had taken place … in legal terms, it remains a
“baited site” for 10 days.

At this time of year, we receive a lot of calls from
individuals who are not hunters, are not aware of or do not understand the
rationale for the regulations, and wish to continue supplemental feeding; the
information provided below, taken directly from the agency’s web site, should
help you address some of those questions. A common issue that arises each
year pertains to bird feeding stations that people maintain in their backyards
— guidance on how to interpret the regulation in this kind of circumstance
states that, if a deer can access a feeder during the period of prohibition and
obtain food resources as a result of that action, the individual who is
maintaining the feeders could be cited as “feeding” deer. In such cases,
owners rarely are cited (although it would be legal to do so), and instead are
asked simply to raise the feeders above the level at which deer can gain
access; refusal to do so likely will result in a citation, though.

Biologically, there is no justifiable science-based reason
that supports supplemental feeding of deer … they can do and currently are doing
quite well on their own statewide utilizing naturally occurring food
resources. Continuous supplemental feeding leads to habituation, the
potential spread of disease, and often increases the number of human-wildlife
conflicts that arise in the area adjacent to feeding sites, as noted
below. If you have the opportunity to do so, please help spread the word
and hopefully lead to reducing some of the conflicts with wildlife we currently
are witnessing across the Commonwealth.

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